Quality of life following DBS in the caudal zona incerta in patients with essential tremor.

Background: Essential tremor (ET) is the most common movement disorder and often affects the quality of life. There are only a few studies evaluating the quality of life after deep brain stimulation (DBS).

Findings: This is a prospective study of 16 patients undergoing deep brain stimulation in the caudal Zona incerta (cZi). The quality of life was assessed with Quality of Life in Essential Tremor Questionnaire (QUEST) and SF-36 scores, and the tremor was evaluated using the essential tremor rating scale (ETRS).

Results: In the tremor rating, hand tremor on the treated side improved by 95%, hand function by 78% and activities of daily living by 71%. The QUEST score showed statistically significant improvements in the psychosocial and activities of daily living subscores. The SF-36 score did not show any significant improvement.

Conclusions: Although very good tremor reduction was achieved, the improvement in the quality of life scores was more modest. This could partly be explained by the quality of life being affected by other factors than the tremor itself.